Amazing statistics: China's Lunar New Year by the numbers

Updated 8:15 PM ET, Tue February 5, 2013

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China's Lunar New Year by the numbers – The annual Chinese New Year migration will last 40 days -- from January 26 to March 6 -- according to the Beijing's National Development and Reform Commission.The Chinese or Lunar New Year is one of China's most important holidays. An unprecedented number of Chinese will travel this year to spend time with family and friends, making it the world's largest annual migration.

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China's Lunar New Year by the numbers – Chinese officials forecast that 3.4 billion trips will be taken during the holiday period, an increase of 8.6 percent from last year.The 2013 Lunar New Year, which begins February 10, ushers in the Year of the Snake.

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China's Lunar New Year by the numbers – Of those 3.4 billion trips, 3.1 billion will be by road -- 9 percent more than last year. An estimated 43 million passengers will travel by boat.

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China's Lunar New Year by the numbers – This is the number of people traveling by air, up 5.2 percent from 2012. China Eastern, China Southern and Air China are among airlines scheduling additional flights to help deal with the demand.

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China's Lunar New Year by the numbers – In Shanghai, Pudong International Airport and Hongqiao Airport are expecting 8.6 million travelers and 66,800 flights. These numbers account for more than 10 percent of Shanghai's annual passenger volume. In all of 2012, the airports handled 78 million passengers.

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China's Lunar New Year by the numbers – Over the past decade, China has opened several new rapid-speed rail lines. This Lunar New Year period, some 225 million passengers will travel by train, up 4.6 percent from a year ago.

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China's Lunar New Year by the numbers – The national government estimates 7 million people will take trains on the peak travel days of February 6 and 7. In the capital, Beijing, 980,000 people are expected to use train services on each of those two days.

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China's Lunar New Year by the numbers – On January 15, 300,000 tickets were sold hourly on China Rail Service's official booking site -- a new record for the website. This was the day tickets for the peak travel days of February 6 and 7 were released.

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China's Lunar New Year by the numbers – On January 15, train tickets to some major cities sold out in 20 seconds on the rail system's ticket website, which logged 17 million registered users and sold 2.65 million tickets on that single day. (All statistics are from official Chinese government data.)